Review: Naruto Gaiden: The Seventh Hokage and the Scarlet Spring

Summary: It’s been many years since the finale of Naruto, our hero is the current Hokage and people live in a time of peace. All of the original characters are adults now with kids – kids who are about to become full-fledged ninja of their own. But, before that can happen, Sarada – the daughter of Sasuke – embarks on an adventure to discover the truth about her own heritage… what revelations await?!

[MAJOR Spoilers from this point on…]

Review: And just like that, we’ve hit familiar territory all over again. Don’t get me wrong, I am enjoying this little run of story focusing on Sarada, but it’s here we get a lot of familiarity that never sat well with me in the main Naruto series, I really don’t want to have to deal with it again here.

Sarada is still wanting to know about her heritage, who her true mother is, and she’s having to deal with one of her fellow classmates Chouchou who doesn’t believe her parents are actually hers either, although of course they are, and I don’t feel sorry for Chouchou in the slightest. She’s just being a rebellious brat.

I do however feel bad for Sarada, who not only it seems will have to drag Chouchou along on her journey of self-discovery, but also has to do it in secret as she follows Naruto who plans to meet up with Sasuke about the threats of a new villain on the rise. I’m sure this isn’t going to end well for anyone, but this is Naruto, so who knows.

That threat on the rise, however, is my biggest pet peeve of the whole story right now. Yeah there are things bothering me, like Chouchou as a character, Sakura being coincidentally unconscious for all of this through an incredibly contrived and stupid plot device, and I’m still not a fan of Naruto not turning out to be a very good father having finally reached his dream.

Is most of it realistic? Yes. Does it fit Naruto? To a point, but not completely.

On the subject of the villain though, we get our first introduction to them this chapter and surprise, surprise, it’s more villains with the Sharigan and tied to the Uchiha Clan. Complete with a mysterious big bad, and their somewhat intriguing, but ultimately boring lead henchman.

I’m not saying this is bad, it’s just redundant. How many villains in Naruto have we dealt with already that meet this same formula? I think Kishimoto is finally out of ideas when it comes to this series, and I hope once Sarada’s story is finished, he takes a break and works on something not connected to Naruto at all.

This wasn’t a great chapter, but I’m more than excited to see Sasuke and Sarada finally meet. And I hope beyond hope that Karen ends up in fact, officially, being Sarada’s mother. It would me so happy. We’ll just have to wait and see from this point on, what I’m not excited for are the villains.

Final Score: 2 Uninteresting Uchiha Villains out of 5

Derrick is a born and raised otaku with a love for comics, anime, manga and movies. The full list is pretty long, but that’s just the basics. Stories set in space are his bread and butter.